Speech and language therapists recognise that the use of gesture is an important part of communication and for some people with difficulties in expressing their message – such as people who have suffered a stroke and have aphasia – it can become a very important mode of communication.

Science Daily has reported on how head movements play an important role in conveying emotions.

In the article from McGill University it says…… “When people talk or sing, they often nod, tilt or bow their heads to reinforce verbal messages. But how effective are these head gestures at conveying emotions?

“Very effective, according to researchers from McGill University in Montreal. Steven R. Livingstone and Caroline Palmer, from McGill’s Department of Psychology, found that people were highly accurate at judging emotions based on head movements alone, even in the absence of sound or facial expressions.

“This finding suggests that visual information about emotional states available in head movements could aid in the development of automated emotion recognition systems or human-interaction robots, the researchers say. Expressive robots could potentially serve a range of functions, particularly where face-to-face communication is important, such as at hotel reception desks and as interactive care robots for the elderly.Tracking movement, not sound.

“Using motion-capture equipment to track people’s head movements in three dimensions, Livingstone and Palmer recorded vocalists while they spoke or sang with a variety of emotions. The researchers then presented these video clips to viewers without any sound, with the facial expressions of vocalists hidden so that only their head movements were visible. Viewers were then asked to identify the emotions that the vocalists intended to convey.

“We found that when people talk, the ways in which they move their head reveal the emotions that they’re expressing. We also found that people are remarkably accurate at identifying a speaker’s emotion, just by seeing their head movements,” says Palmer, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Performance.


Research idea emerged from a noisy pub

“While the head movements for happy and sad emotions differed, they were highly similar across speech and song, despite differences in vocal acoustics,” says Livingstone, a former postdoctoral fellow in the Palmer lab and now a postdoctoral fellow at McMaster University. “Although the research was based on North American English speakers, the focus on head movements creates the possibility for studying emotional communication in contexts where different languages are spoken.”

The idea for the study emerged from a noisy pub. “One night in Montreal I was in a bar with my lab mates,” explains Livingstone, “It was a lively evening, with lots of people, dim lights, and some very loud music. At one point my friend started to talk me; I knew he was excited though I couldn’t make out what he was saying or see his face clearly. Suddenly I realized it was the animated way that he was bobbing his head that told me what he was trying to say.”

Adds Palmer, “Our discovery may lead to new applications in situations where sound is not available, such as automated recognition of emotional states in crowd behaviour or in hearing impairments, by making use of head movements when watching someone talk. It also has applications in computing and robotics, where the addition of expressive head movements may help make humanoid robots more lifelike and approachable.”

It is recognised that the use of gestures begins very early in life and a project has advised that children should know at least 16 gestures by the time they are 16 months old.

The First Words Project at Florida State University reports that: “Good communication development starts in the first year of life and goes far beyond learning how to talk. Communication development has its roots in social interaction with parents and other caregivers during everyday activities. Your child’s growth in social communication is important because it helps your child connect with you, learn language and play concepts, and sets the stage for learning to read and future success in school. Good communication skills are the best tool to prevent behaviour problems and make it easier to work through moments of frustration that all infants and toddlers face. By observing children’s early gestures, you can obtain a critical snapshot of their communication development. Even small lags in communication milestones can add up and impact a child’s rate of learning that is difficult to change later. Research with young children indicates that the development of gestures from 9 to 16 months predicts language ability 2 years later, which is significant because preschool language skills predict academic success. So it’s important to remember that by 16 months, children should have at least 16 gestures.”

The article looks at how gestures develop. It states that while the order of specific gestures may vary slightly, children should be using at least 2 new gestures each month between 9 and 16 months.

For example at 9 months: “Children’s earliest gestures begin to develop from their actions—and the reactions of others. Children first learn to take an object. Then, as they are able to control their hand movements to release and drop an object, they gain experience from their parent holding out their hand to catch it—and they learn to give. Children learn to shake their head to indicate “no” by turning away from food they do not like and then looking back to see their parent respond by moving the undesired food away.”


The article is part of the 16 by 16™ series developed by the FIRST WORDS® Project to help families and others learn important early social communication milestones that launch language learning and literacy.

Reference:

McGill University. “Let your head do the talking: Head movements play an important role in conveying emotions through speech and music.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 October 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151027132930.htm>.

FIRST WORDS Project. Copyright c 2014 Florida State University. http://firstwordsproject.com/about-16by16/

Written by Rachel Harrison, speech and language therapist, on behalf of Integrated Treatment Services. www.integratedtreatmentservices.co.uk